The South Hardin football team achieved a new program standard with their first Class 1A state semifinal appearance in program history. The Tigers were guided to new heights by 13 seniors. Head Coach Nick Eller notes the game changers this group brought to the team.
“It’s just been a slow development, just getting to this point. It’s really just a proud moment as a coach to see our guys get to this spot. It’s been through work and just perseverance. You hate to see this group go because you’ve seen them come all the way through since fifth grade, homegrown and just hardworking kids. That’s my kind of guys,” says Eller. “Their freshman and sophomore year, I knew we had a good enough group of athletes. We had the size, linebackers and skilled guys to be able to play at a pretty high level. I didn’t know how high a level, but I thought we had a good enough group to be able to play at a pretty good level. When they were younger, we saw that group coming.”
Concluding their Tiger football careers, senior Peyton Welch had 2,212 passing yards, 471 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns. Senior Sam Benson paced the receiving core with his second straight 1,000 yard season (1,011 yards) and 13 touchdowns. Senior Lucas Perry captained the defense with 68.5 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. Eller says achieving this program first is just the start.
“The guys know what it takes to play at a high-level football after this year against a lot of different teams. We’ve played a lot of good teams this year all over the board, all over the state. They’ve shown up to be able to match that,” says Eller. It really gives us a huge springboard to next year. We got a lot of good players back. We have got some good young guys that are waiting to get their chance. We’re not done.”
Projected returners to build around include sophomore Kameron Adams with 1,283 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, junior Casey Williamson who had 623 receiving yards and eight touchdowns and junior Manning Pfantz defensively who tracked down 51 tackles (third most on the team).
The Tigers concluded their season at 10-2 overall.
